I’m pretty much at the same point. I found this interesting, but haven’t applied it yet. There’s a chance you already know this from the courses you’ve done, apologies if so.
Watching this thread with interest.
I can also recommend the “Drum Programming Handbook” by Justin Paterson, although this is more about rhythm in general and emulating a real drumset, and less so about techno specifically. Good book though, covers a lot of ground.
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I’d also seriously consider getting a few drum lessons on a kit, to get a feel for how the mechanics of a drum-kit works. What each piece looks like, how it works, how it responds and how it plays with the other pieces.
Of course, rules are there to be broken in art, but it’s really useful getting to know the basics of the rules I reckon.
…and playing a kit is really good fun too!
The thing about drum theory is, it is all predicated on learning how to physically play all note divisions, at all tempos, with four limb indipendance, or even more (fingers) if doing percussion. Then you learn dynamics, soft, hard, and harder. All rudiments are simply an excercise to develop muscle memory and to train the brain to play what you imagine.
A sequencer makes all of that redundant. Because it does all the hard work for you, all you have to do is enter the notes. You dont need to be able to play anything, or even know what anything means. A good set of ears is all you need. If it sounds good, it is good.
If you know what a quarter note is (4/4 techno kick pattern.) Then you can extrapolate the rest from there. Also, the tresillo is well worth reading about.
Good luck, have fun.
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As a guitar player who is self taught and learns to play things “by ear”, I can say that when I got into making electronic music the process of programming or finger drumming was still a major learning curve. It took me quite a while to come to grips with the functionality of each piece of a drum kit and how important ghost notes were. It took me like 3 years to deconstruct the amen break. Your sequencer may have microtiming and velocity but if you don’t understand how it functions to create a groove and feel then youre just sort of going all Jackson Pollock with it. If you use the method of listening and deconstructing what you hear I recommend slowing down the audio to let the individual placement of drum parts within the grooves really sink in, I dunno if you’re an aphex twin fan but if you listen to some of the jungle type druqks tracks at a slower speed and realize how groovy they actually are you can get a good feel for how to effectively program drums.
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Say I can borrow a Nord 3P. How’s close is that too a real drum set? I could even possibly get a kick pedal for it.
The most practical approach is to look up drum rudiments. Rudiments are a description of all the basic patterns used by drummers.
Learn them all and you have all the basics down. Learning you can do on a real drumkit, or by programming or by using two spoons on your favorite table….
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feels like YouTube recommendations algorithm was reading my mind. This was on the top of my feed https://youtu.be/j9kjLeJCAJk
If you are interested in breakbeats, this is a great resource. It breaks down lots of famous drum breaks. You learn to read drum notation, which is actually not that hard so nothing to be concerned about. Highly recommended.
https://www.mikeadamo.com/the-breakbeat-bible
This app is also really good.
I think those two would complement each other well.
One more recommendation for reading and internalizing rhythms. (You tap along to it and it scores you).
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This. It’s how I was taught as a kid when I first started. Like any instrument you need to learn to crawl before you walk then run. Copying other beats will get you so far but it’s still just that, copying.
We learned from a Buddy Rich rudiments book with two sticks and a rubber pad and didn’t get near a kit for the first year. Those lesson learned never leave you and those simple rudiments inform everything you do after that, whether that be programming drums or any other percussive/syncopated instrument parts. Good drum programming isn’t just about the drum parts imo, it’s about how all the different parts mesh together down to the (micro)step level so some of those rudiments can be applied to other parts too
One way to “study” is to loop a sample; drum break that you like and program your own identical version of it. What your find in many cases is the timing is not exactly quantized. Revers engineering is a great way to learn music theory in a musical way.
He’s such electronic drum break master.
Would love to hear him breakdown how he goes about programming his breaks.
I used to think a lot of it was random generative kind of techniques.
Over the years making drum patterns, I start to think he’s probably very deliberate with each hit.
It’s so complex though, and makes me wonder how he develops that.
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I bought a book geared towards daw users with many breaks and fills. I programmed like 50+ into my digitakt and the patterns emerged. I’m not sure if I’m good or not but I’m usually not completely disappointed by my percs. I’d love to get this type of boost for my synth lines…
This thread is pretty good.
Definitely insightful on drum programming.
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I saw Shigeto perform live once and he was drumming live along side his own tracks.
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I honestly think it’s just patience and a true enjoyment of the meticulous nature of it, with a healthy dose of intuition for rhythm
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I always heard him, and Squarepusher, as totally deliberate. Their drum patterns have a melody and journey to them.
I spent a lot of time listening to (and trying to copy) jungle over the transition phase between hardcore and d&b, which is also deliberate. I think I read Omni Trio in an interview from the time talking about “drum song”… So Aphex’ and Squarepusher sounded like an extreme version of that. I found the generative stuff, and even the random/crossfader stuff you can do with OctaTrack very odd after such “schooling” in the deliberate method.
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For sure. I love how Squarepusher’s use of the amen break in particular often pitches the snare up and down, not sure if he’s going for a specific melody but it does sound melodic for sure.
One thing that I took a little too long to notice is that a lot of the more detailed drum composers out there, especially Aphex, often use a consistent snare on the 2 and 4 as an anchor while the other drums go wild around them. There’s definitely more to it, like having an ear for syncopation, treating it more like jazz drumming etc, but it’s surprising how even the most chaotic/random drum programming can sound focused and clean with a consistent snare. That single method alone took my drum programming from incoherent and amateurish to sounding like I kinda knew what I was doing 
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This book seems to be available under different titles on various mediums, but well worth the price and time IMO
SongBeats: Finite to Infinity W.E. Powelson
Time Signatures: Finite to Infinity W.E. Powelson